Heat Survives Another Embarrassing Collapse

"They should be ashamed of themselves,'' he said of his players. "It's a lack of absolute finishing focus."

Based on the tone, you would have thought the Heat had lost. It didn't. The 81-78 victory over the New Jersey Nets just felt that way.

A team that had put itself in a hole at the start of the season by wasting away double-digit leads reverted to old habits at AmericanAirlines Arena.

On the way to a blowout victory, fueled by a 20-2 third-quarter surge, the Heat was up 80-65 with 5:16 to play.

And then it almost all blew up -- again.

Three turnovers would follow. So would three missed free throws. There would only be one more point from a team that had scored 31 in the first quarter and 24 in the third.

Only a swipe of the right foot of forward Bruce Bowen, which knocked the ball away from Nets point guard Stephon Marbury just before the buzzer, prevented a potential game-tying 3-pointer.

"In the last four minutes of the game, it was just right back to the same old mindlessness, the same not executing, not finishing with great effort, and not believing that a team could have a chance to win,'' Riley said. "That's why we're 18-15 [actually 19-15]. That's why we've probably given away five or six great-effort games this year, because we simply don't believe teams are going to get back at you."

What had Riley seething is that this is a veteran roster, not a bunch of rookie stumblebums.

"It's a lack of absolute finishing focus -- it just is," he repeated, "to focus on getting the win, reward yourself for your good play, stay intense, stay in front, don't get cocky, don't get arrogant. And that's we do. We just don't complete the effort a lot of the times."

In the season-long absence of center Alonzo Mourning, Riley understands how thin the margin is for his team. It's just that at times such as Thursday's fourth quarter, he is not sure his players understand.

"They should be, as veteran guys, they should be ashamed of themselves, night in and night out, taking themselves to the edge,'' he said. "It probably will determine even the possibility of whether or not we make the playoffs."

Riley's players agreed, to a degree.

"Teams are going to make runs, that's reality," forward Anthony Mason said. "We found a way to win."

There were, however, mitigating factors. For one, the Heat needed its starters to handle just about the entire load. Seventy-one of the Heat's first 72 points were scored by the starters, the exception a second-quarter free throw from power forward A.C. Green.

Riley went the entire first quarter without a substitution; the Heat closed the 12 minutes with a 31-23 lead. Riley then went the entire third quarter with only his starters; the Heat proceeded to outscore the Nets 24-8.

The Heat bench was outscored 29-5, shooting 1 of 11.

But Riley pointed out that the starters were on the court when the momentum turned, when the Heat somehow left Johnny Newman open for a 3-pointer to make it 80-78 with five seconds to play.

Through it all, the Heat survived a 27-point effort from Marbury by getting at least 12 points from all five starters, double-digit rebounds from Mason and center Brian Grant and eight assists from point guard Tim Hardaway.